First Look: Honda FC Sport Concept

Honda's Hydrogen-Powered Vision of Its Sports Car Future

Where the FCX Clarity is practical, the FC Sport is decidedly not. The three passengers enter and exit through a front-hinged canopy, and there doesn't appear to be any space for luggage. That isn't the point, though. American Honda executive vice president John Mendel sums it up best: "The Honda FC Sport explores how to satisfy automotive performance enthusiasts in a world beyond petroleum. People who love sports cars will still have a reason to love them in a hydrogen-powered future."Despite its supercar aspirations, the FC Sport is still an eco-friendly car at heart. Honda claims that when the source and conversion of hydrogen for fuel-cell vehicles are taken into account, the FCX Clarity is responsible for just one-third the well-to-wheel emissions of a gasoline-powered car and half the emissions of a good hybrid. The FC Sport utilizes the same powertrain as the FCX Clarity, albeit in a different orientation, so it should produce similar numbers. In fact, the FC Sport is likely to have a greater range, as well as better performance, than the FCX Clarity, thanks to the extensive use of lightweight materials. The body panels, for example, are expected to use plant-derived bio-plastics.

Shortly after the Clarity made its debut last year, Motor Trend technical editor Kim Reynolds was able to test-drive the car and came away impressed with the production-level fit and finish, the flawless performance of the fuel cell, and the ease of living with the hydrogen-powered sedan. As the FC Sport is still a concept, we'll likely not be able to test it as we did the FCX Clarity.Some say hydrogen-powered cars are an expensive exercise in futility and that efficient production and delivery of hydrogen will never materialize. Those people do not work at Honda. By spending the massive amount of money needed to engineer multiple models of hydrogen-fuel-cell-powered cars, Honda believes it has demonstrated the technology does have a future. Only time will tell if it has bet wisely.